Happy Birthday Togo!

Togo had a birthday recently. Now he is Two years old. He is officially a big dog now. Even though I think that I will be calling him puppy no matter how old he is.

He got a bath yesterday, the girl who gave him the bath complained that he wants his paw held all the time making it really hard to bathe him - welcome to my world :) But she also said that Togo is the sweetest dog she had encountered at the groomers, so there - take that all you snotty little yappy dogs!

Togo gets to go for walks much earlier now a days , since the temperatures have cooled down and he is not in danger of heat stroke from the sun all the time. Now I usually take him right after work, that works well for me too, it is still light out, it is great to get out after sitting at the desk all day and Togo can sniff all the bushes he wants because we are not in hurry anywhere. And boy does he sniff - I think now that the temperatures are down he can smell more, or there are more smell in the air - it is weird. And just imagine those days when there is the bonus of a dead squirrel in the middle of the road, oh boy!

Where did everyone go?

Togo has been such a dog today. I am perfectly aware that he is a dog, but Togo does not often have all the behaviors that "normal" or "regular" dogs have, for example he has never really lifted his leg to pee, even though he is a male dog: he squats - kind of. Well, today we took him for the usual long loop around the neighborhood and he had the need to take a dump on someones yard. And after he took that dump all the sudden he had to scratch the ground with his hind legs and send some dirt flying to the direction of his dump - that is a very natural thing that dogs do, I have seen many dogs do it, especially male dogs - but this was first for Togo. And then he looks at me like "What are you staring at?!?!" I asked him :"Why are you being such a dog, Togo, all of the sudden". He did not answer.

We met the two greyhounds on our way back. And the dogs had to do the usual butt sniffing, tail wagging, front end sniffing thing and then everyone retreated to their own corners and everything was fine. And we went home, and they went on their walk. Back at home Togo had his very delicious bowl of ice cubes, he watched some Olympics with dad, and then he came barking at me to take him to the crate, it was his bed time. All in a day of a life of a dog.

Togo does not seem to miss the kids when they are not here, kind of 'out of sight out of mind' thing, but when Jenni came home for Saturday, he did not want to let her go out of his sight, he lay down in front of the bathroom door when she had to use the bathroom, he lied down on the floor to stare at her when she ate; if she went upstairs, Togo went upstairs... all day long. Today when I came back alone after taking Jenni to KSU, once again, I guess he did not question where Jenni went, but wait until she comes back!

Today at dinner I was eating steamed string beans and even though dad had more delicious meat and potatoes going on his plate does Togo sit and stare at every mouthful of that? Of course not, because he is sitting by my chairs staring at every string bean going in my mouth his mouth dripping drool to the floor. Needless to say he got his share. Not a very dog like thing to do... string beans!?!?!? I cannot even get my husband to eat them!

Lazy days of summer

Here he is - Togo, Mr. Taco, Big Puppy, Sweet Boy- what ever you want to call him. He pretty much answers to all of it. But this is him, all 125 pounds of him. All 125 pounds of "I have no clue how big I am and therefore I insist on being a lapdog" him. All "did some-one just open a refrigerator, food container or drink bottle and why are they not sharing with me" Togo.

Togo is our first dog. Before him we thought we were not really dog people - WRONG. At least we are Togo people, and we are Togo's people. He has developed a sweet protective demeanor around us. If any other dog wants to hang around us too long to be petted, Togo just walks and positions himself between us and that other dog - he does not bark, he does not show any emotion , he just moves in and stands there. "My people, all mine" he seems to be saying. And it goes all back to him - our Togo, all ours!!! With a bellyrub!

Pizza Mutt

Mr. Taco is sneaky and shrewd. He knows how to get what he wants, so you have to stay at least one step ahead of him or he'll milk you for all your worth. One day Dad was eating a small sandwich for breakfast while Mom was getting ready upstairs. Taco made his way to the bathroom, stole a roll of toilet paper, and bolted back downstairs. Mom shouted for Dad to get the roll away from the dog and bring it upstairs; he did. When Dad came back downstairs he found his sandwich gone and the dog smacking his lips. The toilet paper was just a diversion; he exploited the hole in the system and got what he wanted.

Yesterday we ordered pizza for dinner. Like any dog Taco hangs around the table so he can snatch anything that might be dropped. He will sit patiently and stare, but he doesn't tend to steal stuff. But yesterday, when Mom turned her head away and put her hands to work closing the pizza box, Taco moved in stealthily and stole a large slice of pizza from Mom's plate. It didn't even touch the ground; he pretty much swallowed it whole. He looked entirely satisfied with himself, and all Mom could do was watch impotently as her dinner became dog food.

He now has a new nickname: "Pizza Mutt."

The Flat Puppy

Look at the flat puppy. He likes lying down like this and just moving his eyes to observe his surroundings. Food offerings always snap him out of it though....

After Henri's last post we found out that the chicken in the neighborhood is named Puffy, she is a family pet and not meant to be Thanksgiving or any other day dinner. She is outside quite a lot in the evenings, and seems like she just hangs out on the front yard without being tied down or anything. I guess chickens don't run away too often.

Togo is getting settled in the Summer mode. It is a start of the summer heat here in Georgia, and it is not easy for a black dog in the hot sunshine. I don't think it is easy for any dog - but his black fur seems to absorb all the heat around him. So during the day we just let him out for "bathroom breaks" and then in the evening when sun starts to set we take him for the long loop. He loves his walks but then when we come back he is done for the evening. Togo prefers to have lots of ice cubes after the walks - he doesn't seem to like drinking water immediately after. Few times I have tried to compromise and put ice cubes in his water, but he thinks they are some sort of intruders in his water and just barks at them until they melt. Silly dog.

Leena

Chicken Run

When we walk Mr. Taco in our sprawling suburban neighborhood, we have two choices: the Little Loop and the Big Loop. The Little Loop is three quarters of a mile; the Big Loop is two miles. Taco likes the Big Loop best. Along the route he is something of a legend. Everyone we pass recognizes him as "that big black dog." One guy even waits on the end of his driveway on the return part of the Loop to give him cookies, and he gladly exacts his tribute. He's like the Don or something.

Taco is a strong mutt. It takes all available energy to hold him back if he gets excited and charges at something. Usually it's another dog or someone he recognizes, but earlier this week he charged a chicken. A chicken. There's this Chinese family that lives in the big brick house at the corner by the park, and they have a chicken. I don't know if it's a pet or if they're going to take a cleaver to it some day down the road, but apparently they think it's a good idea to let it out of the house every now and again to wander around the yard. Free-range suburban living: if it's good for humans, it must be good for the chicken.

Taking your ten-pound chicken outside is a good idea sometimes, but not when there is a 125-pound mutt lurking about. Mr. Taco and I turned the corner and before my brain made the connection that the little thing hopping around this house's front yard was a chicken, I found myself straining to keep the mutt from charging the chicken. Taco's only experience with chicken so far had been "mmm, tasty," and I didn't particularly feel like having to explain to Mom that Mr. Taco devoured a new playmate. Luckily Taco's excited howling and barking made the chicken flap away to the backyard, and I was able to get the dog home safely. No animals were harmed in the making of this walk, etc.

Too bad it's impossible to do either the Little or Big loop without passing this house; we'll just have to hope the chicken's not there whenever we walk the dog.

-Henri

How Mr Taco came to be

When Togo first came to the house he was named after the CSI Miami actor Jonathan Togo (Guess who's owner was a 16 year old girl!). When Togo arrived, we had learned that Togo is also a small republic in Africa and that there was a Japanese admiral named Togo, who reached some sort of fame over in Japan before WWI. All that known, my son who has a tendency of naming people after food, started quickly calling him Taco and Mr. Taco and soon the name stuck. And he answers to both names, Togo and Taco...

Taco is sort of addictive name, even if you don't mean to call him that, you do, and since he answers it too, I guess he will always be known as Mr. Taco